Kucinich Will Be a Thorn in the Side to Democratic Contenders

The last thing any Democratic presidential contender wants to do is to have defend their initial support for the current war in Iraq, especially if the criticism is coming from another Democrat. Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards, Evan Bayh, Joe Biden and any other Democrat who voted to give President Bush authorization to go to war, Dennis Kucinich is now in the race.

“It is not credible to say you’re opposed to the war and keep funding it,” Kucinich said on Tuesday while announcing his bid for the presidency. “If the Democrats — going into the November election — had told the people, ‘Look, we’re going to vote to continue to fund the war,’ I doubt very seriously we would have gained control of the House and the Senate.”

Kucinich has called for an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, and while that may not be realistic, it will put pressure on many of the Democratic contenders to not only defend their initial support for the war but also offer realistic proposals for the way forward. Most Democrats and Republicans have run fast and far away from the Iraq Study Group proposals and now we know that any new ideas coming from the Bush administration won’t be out until after the year is over.

There’s still some time before the Democratic presidential candidate forums begin but Kucinich has the potential to make those affairs difficult for the top contenders when he pressures them on the issue of Iraq. "I am not going to stand by and watch thousands more of our brave, young men and women killed in Iraq," said Kucinich. "We Democrats were put back in power to bring some sanity back to our nation. We were expected to do what we said we were going to do -- get out of Iraq."

Good luck to the guy or gal having to stand next to Kucinich on stage.